PIZZA PANDA is the only platformer ever made in which you are a
panda driving a car and the goal is to slam-dunk whole pizzas straight
into the mouths of cute aminals as quickly as possible.
The mechanics in PIZZA PANDA were arrived at via experimentation
rather than just trying to clone existing games; as a result it's a bit
hard to explain with just words.
Gameplay Video
(sorry; i tried to go slow on the levels but it's really hard for me
to play it badly lol hopefully you get the idea at least)
Screenshots
Animated GIFs
3:4 Aspect-Ratio Cover
Feature Highlights
"Put the correct hat on the animal" mechanic
jump up from underneath hat to grab it from NPC's head
hat sits on top of car and stacks on top of other hats or pizzas
descend onto another NPC's head to place hat on head
place the hat on the correct NPC's head to match "photos" in upper
left corner
Physics-based delivery mechanic
touch pizza to NPC's head to deliver pizza
touch baby rat to papa rat to return it safely home
inventory items stack and bounce on top of car
Player cannot lose or get into a "fail state"
(except on two levels which are a little bit more puzzly and may
require restarting the level if things are delivered in the wrong
order)
Accessibile game-design
fast-paced play, though encouraged, is entirely optional
level timer can be hidden
delivering the pizza to the wrong animal is not punishing; the
animal simply spits the pizza back out, such that the only penalty
is time (if you are trying to acheive the target time)
secret levels can be discovered without requiring high-level play
mostly textless
no reading is required to complete the game
No combat or violence
the one exception to this is that the cats will "eat" a rat which
causes the rat to respawn in its original position
Large game by PICO-8 standards, but still fits in a single 32 KB "cart"
various compression and data serialization techniques were
developed in order to fit everything
Levels are selected in an overworld with levels being locked until
the previous level is completed
Each level has one or more of the following goals:
collect all pizza slices (each group of 8 slices turns into a pizza
pie)
deliver pizza to the animals pictured in the "photos" shown in the
UI
swap hats on NPCs in order to match the photos (if an NPC is not
one of the intended recipients, it will begin to eat the pizza but
then spit it out, such that time is the only penalty)
pick up baby rats and deliver them safely (without touching cats)
back to the "papa" rat
For players who want more challenge, each level has an optional
target-time
Player is awarded a star for each level
silver star: level completed in any amount of time
gold star: target-time reached
after achieving a gold star on all levels, "nite mode" is unlocked:
replay the levels at night with an even lower target time which
awards a secret star-type
On the credits level, a silver/gold/nite-mode trophy is awarded based
on star completion
Unsolicited Praise from around the Internet
"This game is really, really satisfying to play[...] the movement feels
great, it's fast and slippery, yet intuitive and easy to get used to. I
also like how there isn't one set path to take through any given level,
and you can come up with your own route. Phenomenal work"
—speedrunner who playtested the game before release
"This is great! Very smooth movement. Cute animations, good sound. The
controls are pretty fun and the game gets a little puzzly towards the
end."
—reddit user
"i loved the puzzles in this game!! the whole game was so cute and fun
:))"
—itch.io user
"fantastic game! cute, fun to control, fun puzzles, and the post-game
is excellent"
—itch.io user
"super balanced with creative puzzles and rock-solid gameplay."
—itch.io user
"This game had me smiling out loud! Super cute and fun!"
—lexaloffle BBS user
"This is super adorable. More games should have a 'put the correct hat
on the animal' mechanic IMO." —lexaloffle BBS user
Game Credits
All graphics/animation/music/design/programming/etc. is by "kittenm4ster"
(Andrew Anderson) except his wife helped a little bit with drawing the
trees.
About the Author
Andrew "kittenm4ster" Anderson has been making games as a hobby since the
age of 9 when he learned to program using QBASIC. He discovered PICO-8
shortly after it was first released in 2015 and has been quietly
creating some of the most popular cult-classic games for the platform
including
Feed the Ducks,
Alfonzo's Bowling Challenge,
Ghost House,
Orbiter Suite,
and even a
simulated disk defragmenter.
Through sheer luck and no action of his own, kittenm4ster's work has been
featured in
PC Gamer in both digital and print,
and he was unexpectedly approached by Ford Motor Company about the
possibility of developing a game for their in-vehicle entertainment
system one time.
Andrew is a full-time software engineer living in Eugene, Oregon with a
wife, two kids, and a dog. He doesn't know anything about marketing or
whatever but some people on the internet said you should make a press kit
if you want to have a chance of ever getting your game covered by anybody
so this is his attempt at making one.
